At 7:55 A.M. on March 20th, a 17-year-old male opened fire with a handgun inside Great Mills High School. Two students were injured, a female student did not survive, and a male student is in stable condition. Great Mills High School went into immediate lock down, and then quickly evacuated to another school.

Officer Blaine Gaskill arrived to the scene within seconds and confronted the shooter. CNN states that the officer and shooter each fired a round at each other, but Gaskill was unaware if he hit the shooter or not.

Tim Cameron, St. Mary’s County Sheriff, claimed, “This is what we train for, this is what we prepare for, and this is what we pray that we never have to do. On this day, we realized our worst nightmare.” Cameron was pleased with the way Gaskill responded to the call.

According to CNN, there have been a total of 17 school shootings as of January 1st. All thoughts and prayers go out to people who have been affected by these devastating events.